In this post for Beyond Here I show you one example of how to photograph simple stock images. It’s a beginning to end look at how to create this image.

Why shoot this style of image? There is strong and ongoing demand for simple, well lit images of a huge range of subjects. Often they are used on websites and blogs to support a written story. Sometimes they are used in printed newsletters, newspapers, magazines, and documents.

Successful stock images have a wide range of potential uses

In this case, the image has a business, savings, investment theme. Well lit images with a business theme have a wide range of potential uses and strong demand. That is the main reason I keep shooting them.

Consider this image, it could be used – in tough economic times to emphasize savings, in good times to highlight an abundance of wealth, in a home finance theme about small amounts adding up, in a theme about the value of the Australian currency, or by financial planners to emphasize the importance of saving and investment. It has a multitude of different potential uses. So, let’s look at how to photograph simple stock images. How was this image created?

Step 1 – Decide on the type of image you would like to create. This is an obvious first step. Put time into considering the type of image you want to make and its potential uses. The variety of potential uses will impact the number of sales the image receives.

Step 2 – Assemble requirements. For this image I needed to gather – the glass jar, dollar notes and coins. These were relatively easy to assemble. Next steps were to make sure the glass jar was clean, that I had enough coins to fill the jar, and the right combination of notes to add some color to the image.

Step 3 – Determine lighting requirements. This image was shot in my studio using 3 continuous lights. I like to use continuous lights when shooting products as I can see where the shadows will fall before I shoot. For more information on continuous lights please see this post.

Step 4 – Consider copyright issues. When shooting any sort of stock photography you need to consider any copyright or legal issues. The glass jar in this image was an old one from our kitchen. It has some writing in the glass at the bottom. I don’t want that in my image as it may get rejected in the stock photo library inspection process – so I need to be aware of that and position the jar so it doesn’t show. In addition, Australian coins have a picture of the Queen of England on the back of them. They are not allowed in stock images, so I need to position the coins so the Queen’s image is not visible.

Step 5 – Shoot. Yes, get in there and shoot the image. Consider different variations on the same theme so that you have a range of stock images.

Step 6 – Post production. For this image very little post production is required. I cropped the image very slightly, increased the saturation of the colors, and made sure my background was pure white.

Step 7 – Upload and Keyword. The final step in making this image available to be downloaded is to upload it to my stock photography portfolio and to add keywords. For this image I use keywords like – australian currency, currency, coin, australian coin, jar, savings, investment, finance, home finance, isolated, isolated on white, white background, nobody.

Thanks for reading how to photograph simple stock images. Good luck with your stock photography.